Truly, it's not. I've let the piece sit for a few days so as not to make any hasty decisions. I've played with it, stretched it, patted it, and even wet blocked a portion of it. I did everything but put it on the altar and pray for a miracle. And it's not working.

It's too thick. It's too heavy. Sharon Miller wrote this pattern for a cobweb yarn, and that's what the design needs. In this yarn, what should look ethereal looks instead like it should be hanging off Stevie Nicks in the mid-1970s. That's fine if that's what you want to knit, but that's not what I want to knit.

On the sample card Sharon sent with the shawl pattern is a gossamer silk. Much thinner, as you can see, than the red Skacel merino.

I knit and blocked a little (about 1 1/2 inch) swatch with the silk on a US 0 (2 mm) needle.

Yes. Much better. I've ordered a cone from Heirloom Knitting. I'm going to do this right, or I'm not going to do it at all. The red merino will become another, heavier lace piece.

If that which does not kill us makes us stronger, this shawl is making me a very strong knitter. Either that, or I'm going end up wandering the streets of Chicago talking to a six-foot-tall silkworm nobody else can see. Time will tell.

60 comments:

One of many lessons I've learned from an older and wiser knitter (Hi Mom!) is to listen to the yarn. It will tell you if it wants to be a particular pattern or not. Ignoring its wishes or trying to defy it is just asking for trouble.

So hasty in ordering! and here I was about to offer you a few thousand yards of very beautiful Italian cobwebweight (2/48, about 60 wpi) merino in a deep deep plummy purple. Then again, maybe you don't want a deep deep plummy purple; if you do, though, I've got plenty. IAC, you are wise to listen to your yarn. It wouldn't lie to you.

Kath, I totally agree with your mom. I can tell when a yarn isn't working or I just don't like the way it's coming out. And every time I've tried to force the issue, I have nothing but problem after problem after problem. But if I bow to the wishes of the fiber and change things around, it's nothing but smooth sailing.

My chest is hurting a bit from the trials you have endured already with this shawl. That said, I would have done the same thing, but with a year between putting away the red and starting with the cobweb. :)

My heart bleeds for you. it's such a huge undertaking to do it all over again (again). BUT, I totally get the "needing to do it right or not at all" thing. It's not that we're perfectionists (honest!), but these things are a labour of love and the journey and the end are equally important. All credit to you.

Wow... wedding ring shawl in cobweb weight yarn. I bow to the master. My recent bout with a very simple lace just about had me and the lace in the back field after dark, with a shovel, but fortunately my husband intervened, and my Juno Regina is done, but I'm still not speaking to it, nor has it been blocked yet.

And the name of the worm? Hiaku? Just a thought. As for me? I have an alpaca named Harry who accompanies me everywhere. And tap dances while i am trying to count stitches. It's quite annoying actually.

Good luck with the gossamer silk. I bought one of Sharon's gossamer sample packs which had about 10gms of this in what looked blue but was probably the silver. Worked beautifully. I bought a cone of the cream, which felt a bit like straw when I washed the sample. I haven't tried re-washing yet, but I am hopeful.I used 0.7 mm needles, which I find easier. I would find it quite a challenge with larger needles.But I know it will be beautiful.

I remember back when I was a new knitter and thought (blithely) I'd do a lace shawl out of Vogue Knitters... it wasn't looking right. Took it into the old, smaller version of my LYS. Oh, the pattern's wrong... here, here and here. Had to do with them typing YO symbols instead of KTogs as I recall. Glad you can "do it right" and feel good about this.

Wow, there must be something in the air or planets doing the aligning--or non-aligning thing. I'm about half way through a shawl and today I frogged/tinked/cajoled and reknit the same 8 rows 4 times. Aigu!!! Such is the life of lace. Looking forward to seeing the new yarn when it arrives.

Personally I think the silkworm should be called Diego, or something of that ilk... if you're going to have a 6 foot silkworm around, he may as well be muscular and good looking, with a touch of latin mystery!

I'm from Chicago and I have been on a few streets where there would be a lot of people who could see that silkworm. In fact, they'd be saying "hello" to him before you even introduced him. (His name is Mul, all those leaves he ate.) Actually, every place I've lived has those streets. Hmmm, I wonder what that means...

Gerrie in St PaulPS: I thought the red lace wedding shawl was a grand notion. Marriage/union is a bold move!

Here I was, happily (more or less) knitting away on my much-less-complex-than-yours shaw, knowing in the back of my mind that the yarn wasn't working but ignoring the fact, and then you have to go and post this. Sigh. Away I go to frog my shaw and start again with different yarn. Because you're right. If I don't, it won't be what I wanted it to be.

Well, while the red was lovely, it doesn't hold a candle to the silk. I'm glad you listened to the yarn, I think the finished shawl will be stunning and worth the pain of frogging. Are you using wood needles? Silk is incredibly slippery! My verification's nuhpaegn - does the computer know something??

I know it's (incredibly) painful, but if it makes you feel any better, I think that was the right decision. That heavier red yarn just didn't look right, and the little swatch has a gloriously airy look to it.

It's comforting to see I am not the only Harvey fan. I can't wait to see what you do with the red Skacel merino. I have an identical skein lurking in my stash. The silk certainly has an ephemeral mood worthy of fine lace, but I will miss the sturdy red.

You did the right thing. Here's a snippet from wikipedia: "The large and many holes in lacy knitting makes it extremely elastic; for example, some Shetland "wedding-ring" shawls are so fine that they may be drawn through a wedding ring." The red yarn was gorgeous but, alas, too thick for this project.

Well, Nietzsche had several widely accepted ideas, but I'm afraid I have to amend the "makes us stronger" theory. That which does not kill us generally hurts like 7734 (no wikipedia for that one; grab a calculator, input the numbers, then invert the screen). Granted, "makes us stronger" is a little more poetic.

I loved the shawl the way it was, but if you're not happy with it, then I suppose that's the way it goes. Good luck, and knitting-gawd speed.

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